Jan 08, 2013

Ahh, another year has closed its doors. Throughout 2012 there were a
ton of releases -- it seemed like more than ever -- with a plethora of great
listening to be had. The remains of what was briefly dubbed "witch
house" still lingered in the airwaves, yet took various shapes and entered
new dimensions. Hip-hop seemed to have resurrected itself with a new league of
MCs taking to the blogs in earnest, becoming more over the top, ridiculous,
raw, dirty and adventurous than ever. Everyday seemed to offer a new mix-tape or
collab-o and many openly gay MCs finally got some play. On the electronic side
lots of familiar faces resurfaced in mostly fine style, while a solar system of
new names caused my ears to perk up and gave me my beats & bass fix. Indie
continued to gentrify R&B and dance clubs, and the results were more varied
and satisfying than in previous years as culture lines continued to dissolve.
Newish labels like the Trilogy Tapes, Tri Angle, Black Acre and Night Slugs issued
fresh, raw and jaw-dropping EPs and full-lengths, while more established
stables like Hyperdub, Modern Love and Planet Mu released several albums
that are poised to become classics. So here's a list of the artist and
releases that got me hyped, made me feel sexy, soothed melancholy moments, kept
me motivated at the gym, and in general became my soundtrack in and out of the
house, as well as at work.

After much consideration, I decided that it wasn't one record that
summed up 2012 for me; it was a trio of releases from the duo of Inga Copeland
and Dean Blunt, a/k/a Hype Williams. It seemed like each season brought another
piece of their self-made musical puzzle into view, becoming an open-ended,
unraveling world of thoughts and moments. Along with their official release, Black Is Beautiful, they coupled it with
two other otherworldly voyages for free, the 33 track The Attitude Era and Blunt's 'solo' blues-tinted vision, The Narcissist II. Of all the music
released this year, Hype Williams had me intrigued, confused, and most importantly
kept me coming back. They are not perfect and that to me is part of the appeal
in the era of the perfect-biggest-winner-idol. They felt more honest than
ironic. No one echoed in my head or set a mood like them. They had all the
elements that I hold dear: electronic bedroom music, dub, beats, bass, hip-hop,
soul, minimal, art-rock, post-punk, experimental, outsider music, all with an
air of casual yet distant eerie beauty. Like a modern version of two others in
my extended list, Massive Attack's remixed edition of Blue Lines (an all-time classic in my book), or the awesome Personal Space compilation, theirs was a
continuation of the outsider electronic soul tradition, and sounded like no one
else this year, which is hard to say of others in the current world of sound we
find ourselves in. Their live show from last spring, sharing a bill with the
also moody Actress, was one of the equally frustrating and spot-on live shows
I've seen in awhile. But as mentioned, there was a ton of good music this year.
So my annual year end list overflows with hi-energy jams, moody abstractions,
rhythmic filled yearnings, old-school time capsules, and head-nodding, now-school
beat science, and above all soul. I've enjoyed them all and hope you may as
well. Thanks for reading, shopping, and asking for my opinion. Happy listening! - dMg